and as we well know, the people in the white house are experts at calculating president obama's political interest. and they're going to say, you know, how is this going to go? and they're also experts at looking at the question, and they will relook at it, is chuck hagel the right person for this job? because we may be going into four years of foreign policy and defense dust-ups and serious confrontations. this, arguably, is the most important cabinet appointment. as we learned in the susan rice non-nomination for secretary of state, they're willing in the white house to say, now, wait a minute. this isn't working out. this may not be the right person. and take that short-term hit. i think the real issue is how does the white house really look at it? i think now they're just going to wait it out. but time may not be on their side. >> chuck, it's donny. i want to go back to something you said about running the mock hearing. >> yeah. >> he could -- and i'd like to know what the white house's position or response to this is. you literally could have prepped him in seven minutes. there are b